Buyer Remorse Or Buyer Beware? Either Way, Elon Musk Wants To Cancel Twitter Deal

Social Media Buyer Remorse Or Buyer Beware? Either Way, Elon Musk Wants To Cancel Twitter Deal John Brandon Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. John Brandon covers social media trends. @jmbrandonbb New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jul 9, 2022, 09:24am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 02: Elon Musk attends The 2022 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: An . . .

[+] Anthology of Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 02, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue) Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue I’m not one to make impulsive decisions, but then again I also don’t have millions or billions in the bank. Just about every car I’ve ever purchased has led to some buyer remorse, except the most recent one where I bought my neighbor’s car.

For most of us, we have limited funds and when we finally make a purchase, it usually means we have to live with it. When you’re Elon Musk, that might not be the case . According to recent reports , the famous entrepreneur intends to back out of his deal to purchase Twitter.

It made me wonder if that’s due to some second thoughts about his own financial position or if the company itself is not as valuable as he once thought. Let’s parse that out for a moment. Second thoughts are just that, a chance to reevaluate the first thought.

Again, most of us do this with a car or a home, not with a major social media platform that would cost him $44 billion. The economy is tanking , so it makes me wonder if Musk just realized he doesn’t want to own the platform as much as he originally thought. It’s a curious development, because he is still pumping out tweets faster than ever, including a recent one about having more kids .

Musk still loves Twitter but he might hate the idea of buying a massive company when it looks like inflation won’t be abating anytime soon and stocks are plummeting. That’s buyer remorse , the sinking feeling that you bought something you no longer want or can’t afford. Option number two? If he isn’t experiencing remorse, he might be dealing with a tinge of buyer beware .

There are a lot of bots on Twitter. It’s pretty hard to monetize those, to generate revenue from non-humans. Part of his buyout agreement includes some verbiage about knowing the percentage of fake accounts and bots on the platform .

MORE FOR YOU A New Clubhouse Feature Aims To Increase Small, Private Chats—And Deeper Engagement Facebook Admits It Reported Faulty Numbers To Advertisers, Blames Apple AOC’s ‘Tax The Rich Dress’ – Ultimate Fashion Statement Or Display Of Hypocrisy In my car analogy, buyer remorse is when that Ford pick-up truck is perfectly fine but you wonder if you can actually afford it. With buyer beware, you realize the product or service is seriously flawed or the signs are all suggesting that the purchase doesn’t make sense. You are buying something that could start losing value over time; it’s a big mistake.

I tend to think it’s a little of both. If he’s questioning the deal, it could be a mix of regret and caution. Over the last few weeks and months, even though Musk is still the richest person in the world , he has watched as Tesla stock hit the skids since April.

What does an electric car company have to do with a social media network? Absolutely nothing, and it appears the stock market agrees . Meanwhile, Twitter hasn’t exactly lit the world on fire. The stock has also dropped , and the company announced plans to allow 2,500-word blogs which seems like a desperation move to attract a few bloggers to a platform that is mostly famous for the accounts it’s suspended.

In other words, there’s drama. Either way, that doesn’t seem like a wise purchase after all. John Brandon Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.